The ceremony
First impressions count. Unless you have a limitless budget, the rules are to decorate the entrance properly and guests will assume that the whole place is full of flowers!
Above: Confetti Wedding Flowers and Garlands
The decoration
The most important area to decorate is the area in which the ceremony will take place. In a church its normally in front of the rood screen (not on either side of the altar as this is too far away from the congregation) and in a civil ceremony, on either side of the register table.
The space
Pew ends are only to be considered when you have a wide enough aisle! Do look, next time you go to your church, to see if there is plenty of space for you, Dad or Hubby, your dress and at least a further 1′ on either side ‐ basically if the aisle is less than 4′ wide, think again. If you have a very wide aisle or have rows of chairs instead of pews, floor mounted pew ends look fabulous as they even up the aisle and create a wonderful avenue. Look at decorating alternating rows of pews or if you have more than 20 rows, every third.
In churches, try to highlight features that belong to the church. A font makes the most sensational container for flowers if it is in the right place.
Stand at the doorway and look to see where your eye goes first ‐ this is the most important area for you to decorate as it is the first thing that you and guests will see.
Church flower arrangers
use them if they are good as they are non‐profit making but only if they will use colours and flowers that you are happy with. The best way to see if you are happy with what the flower arrangers produce is to go and see a wedding that they have decorated.
What to consider
If there is more than one wedding on the day you are getting married, what should you do about flowers? Most Brides in this situation need to buy the fact that unless all of the weddings have the same colour (unheard of!) the colour of any shared flowers needs to be ivory. If this is acceptable, you can either dilute your portion of the expenditure and share the cost of a small amount of flowers or all put the amount of flowers you had budgeted into the pot and share lots more flowers than you would normally be able to afford. It’s always difficult and lots of our Brides prefer for us to take out existing flowers and bring in the ones we have designs specifically for them. This just needs diplomacy and good time‐keeping on our part!
The rules of decorating any ceremonial area are less is more, decide where you want the decoration to start (outside the building?), decorate the first area you see and look at your budget.
